Lewandowski’s 11-minute hat-trick puts Bayern on course for 7-1 rout of Salzburg

As Bayern’s red shapes rampaged around the Allianz Arena, running rings around their traumatised opponents, it was easy to forget that this was a fixture they had approached with a certain foreboding. Salzburg are a dangerous team, and had played well enough in the first leg to raise the spectre of a calamitous defeat. By the time Leroy Sané was slamming in the home side’s seventh goal from a tight angle, all that seemed a very long way away.

Instead it was a night simply to purr and to appreciate, and for Bayern’s prospective Champions League opponents to ponder on how they might be stopped. Sané was excellent, Kingsley Coman too, Thomas Müller burgled a couple of goals in the second half and Serge Gnabry showed flickering signs of a return to form. But for all Salzburg’s impressive industry and intent, they were ultimately beaten by a player currently without equal in world football, who at the age of 33 still seems to be honing and sharpening and adding new edges.

The common theme running through Robert Lewandowski’s three goals in the first 23 minutes was that all three came from 50-50 challenges. But then the very concept of a 50-50 requires reassessment when it comes to Lewandowski, a striker who simply bullies the odds, relishes the head-to-head contest, wins loose balls with a combination of superior physicality, superior intelligence and superior will. Lewandowski’s hat-trick ended his shocking recent goal drought for the Bundesliga champions, a drought that admittedly stretched to all of two games.

It was a vindication of sorts, too, for Julian Nagelsmann, who was rewarded for his brave tactical setup against an accomplished counterattacking side. Nagelsmann persevered with the three-man defence that has had